May 23
1800s 1900s *1901: **Nap Lajoie of the Philadelphia Athletics received the ultimate sign of respect from an opposing team when he was intentionally walked with the bases loaded by the Chicago White Sox. **The Cleveland Blues rallied for nine runs with two outs in the ninth inning to post an amazing 14–13 victory over the Washington Senators. The Blues collected six singles, two doubles, a walk, and a hit batsman during the rally. 1910s *1926 - Hack Wilson of the Chicago Cubs hit a fifth-inning home run off the Wrigley Field scoreboard, situated at ground level, to start a 14–8 rout of the Boston Braves. Wilson became the first player to hit a ball off the scoreboard, which, in 1937, will be moved atop the newly built bleachers. 1920s *1924 - Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators struck out 14 in a 4–0, one-hitter win over the Chicago White Sox for his 103rd major league career shutout. *1925 - Cincinnati Reds pitcher Pete Donohue hit a home run and four singles to beat the Philadelphia Phillies 11–2. 1930s 1940s *1944 - Wartime restrictions were eased and the Polo Grounds was the scene of the first night game in New York metro since 1941 as the visiting Brooklyn Dodgers defeated the New York 3–2. *1945 - The St. Louis Cardinals traded ace pitcher Mort Cooper to the Boston Braves in exchange for pitcher Red Barrett and $60,000 in cash. Cooper, a 20-game winner for the last three seasons, had bolted the Cardinals on two occasions because of a salary dispute. *1948 - Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees hit three consecutive home runs a 6–5 victory over the Cleveland Indians Two of his homers came off Bob Feller. 1950s 1960s *1962 - Joe Pepitone of the New York Yankees hit two home runs in the nine-run eighth-inning of the Yankees' 13–7 triumph over the Kansas City Athletics. 1970s *1970 - The San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants battled for 15 innings, with San Diego winning 17–16. Nate Colbert led the Padres with five hits and four runs batted in. *1978 - The American League approved the transfer of the Boston Red Sox to a group headed by Jean R. Yawkey, Buddy LeRoux, and Haywood Sullivan. The purchase price was estimated at $15 million. Sullivan had a seven-year career as a catcher for the Red Sox and Kansas City Royals, while LeRoux was the Boston trainer for eight years. 1980s *1980 - Five hours after the midnight deadline, MLB players and owners averted a strike by announcing a new four-year basic agreement. The new deal raised the minimum salary from $21,000 to $30,000 and increased the clubs' contributions to the players' pension fund, but the major issue of free agent compensation remained unresolved. *1984 - At Anaheim Stadium, the Detroit Tigers won their 16th consecutive road game, 4–2 over the California Angels, tying an American League record. *1989: **The Cleveland Indians lose to the Detroit Tigers, 7–2, to drop its record to 21-22, but remained in first place in the A.L. East by percentage points. It marked the latest in a season a sub-.500 team has been in first place. **Bo Jackson of the Kansas City Royals hit a monstrous 461-foot home run against Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers. Jackson had struggled in his previous matchups against Ryan, striking out the last six times in succession. 1990s *1991 - Tommy Greene of the Philadelphia Phillies pitched a 2–0 no-hitter over the Montreal Expos. *1995 - Pitchers Kevin Foster of the Chicago Cubs and Marvin Freeman of the Colorado Rockies each hit home runs off each other in a 7–6 Chicago victory at Coors Field. Foster and Freeman became just the tenth duo in the 20th century to hit and throw homers against each other. 2000s *2002 - At Miller Park, Shawn Green of the Los Angeles Dodgers became the 14th man in major league history to hit four home runs in a game and also set a big league record with 19 total bases. Green hit 6-for-6, scored six runs (both Dodgers records), and had seven RBI in a 16–3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. Green is the second player this year to hit four home runs in a game. He also surpassed Joe Adcock's former mark of 18 total bases, set in 1954. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, six players have produced 17 or more total bases in a game, with the last being Mike Schmidt in 1976. Green also is the first major league player to collect six hits while hitting four homers, and his four homers plus a double tied the National League mark for extra base hits. The Dodgers hit eight homers in the game, another franchise record. Before today's power display, Green had gone 0-for-15, and had been benched on May 18. *2003 - Jeremi González earned his first major league victory in nearly five years as the Devil Rays beat the Angels, 3–1, at Anaheim Stadium. González won for the first time since June 28, 1998, while with the Chicago Cubs. He had elbow surgery in 1998 and 1999 before the Cubs released him in 2001. *2006: :Ramón Hernández of the Baltimore Orioles hit 3-for-5 with two home runs, including a three-run shot and a grand slam, in the Orioles 14–4 victory over Seattle. :Carlos Beltrán hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the 16th that gave the Mets a 9-8 victory over Philadelphia. The game lasted 5 hours, 22 minutes, had 522 pitches and was the longest for the Mets since 1995. :Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals hit his major-league leading 23rd home run in the Cardinals 8–5 victory over San Francisco. Births *1862 - Dummy Hoy, outfielder (d. 1961) *1872 - Deacon Phillippe, pitcher (d. 1952 *1873 - Jack Taylor, pitcher (d. 1900) *1888 - Zack Wheat, Hall of Fame outfielder (d. 1972) *1906 - Willis Hudlin, pitcher (d. 2002) *1912 - Augie Galan, All-Star outfielder (d. 1993) *1948 - Reggie Cleveland, pitcher *1956 - Buck Showalter, manager *1961 - Kevin Romine, outfielder *1970 - Ricky Gutiérrez, infielder Deaths *1905 - George Zettlein, pitcher (b. 1844) *1962 - Rip Radcliff, All-Star outfielder (b. 1906) *1963 - Gavvy Cravath, outfielder (b. 1881) *1965 - Earl Webb, outfielder (d. 1897) *1990 - Charlie Keller, All-Star outfielder (b. 1916)